Vorian Martell
Prince Vorian Martell was the Prince of Dorne as successor of Trystane Martell and served on the Small Council of Eddard I Baelish from 337 to 349 AC. His malicious deeds led to the Hand's War of 349-350 AC, after which he disappeared from public knowledge. History Early Life Vorian Martell and his twin sister Qyra were born to Prince Trystane Martell and his wife Myrcella Baratheon in 308 AC. His first proper contact to Eddard Baelish occurred in 326 AC, when his sister began an affair with the young Prince at the age of 18. Small Council When Olyvar Rosby died of a sickness in 337 AC, Eddard Baelish, now King of Westeros, appointed Vorian as his new Master of Laws, as a sign of good faith, regretting the tragedy surrounding his affair with Vorian's sister. Out of a similar feeling, Vorian's promotion one year later was born, when he replaced Lord Edmure Tully as Hand of the King in 338 AC. Whether seeking vengeance for his slain sister or simply wishing to enrich himself, Vorian’s campaign of corruption began that day: * A coalition of Pentoshi moneylenders fleeing from the Faith Militant, in exchange for loaning House Martell three-thousand gold dragons to finish renovations to the Water Gardens, would be granted the ability to tariff any vessels incoming to King’s Landing. * The Crown’s debt, at the time largely owed to the Faith, would triple in amount and creditor - by 342 AC, the Iron Throne would owe gold to the Faith, the Rogare Bank, and the Fisher’s Guild of Myr alike. * Seeking to enrich his countrymen, Prince Vorian passed a series of reforms in King Eddard’s name that permitted House Fowler to increase their taxes on caravans passing through the Prince’s Pass thrice-fold. * In 343 AC, Prince Vorian was publicly accused by Lord Eddison Whitehead of selling his influence in the capital, with the Stormlander claiming to the court that he had been approached by the prince with an offer to be given a legal writ to tax the waves normally in the domain of House Estermont in exchange for a hefty bribe. King Eddard, believing the Stormlander to be lying in an attempt to secure a position in court himself, publicly chided the man - the subsequent raid of Weeping Town by pirates from the Stepstones a moon later was, as far as the Crown was concerned, an unrelated coincidence. Vorian also stacked the Small Council with his own supporters, choosing Lord Lyman Mooton as his successor as Master of Laws, seeking to dominate and share the trade along the Narrow Sea with him and Gyles Grafton, the Master of Ships. In 343 AC, he appointed his countryman Qoren Qorgyle as Master of Whisperers, and a year later, when the position of Master of Coin became vacant, he filled it with Lord Malentine Rykker, another trading partner of his and his conspirators. The most prominent of the Prince’s misdeeds he began in 340 AC: now well aware of King Eddard I Baelish's disinterest in ruling, Prince Vorian maneuvered the king and his council towards deciding to build a new fleet, and subsequently sending it to Dorne - all of this in service to the Prince's ambitious plan to conquer the Stepstones and enrich his own house on the taxes he could levy on passing ships. The Hand's War First convincing the king that annexing the Stepstones into his realm would end the threat of piracy (ironically, citing the privateers’ attack on Weeping Town some years prior), he received Eddard’s blessing to begin amassing a fleet that would rival that of great powers such as House Redwyne or the Iron Fleet. When construction had completed, Prince Vorian once more maneuvered His Grace into granting the new vessels to House Martell, claiming that Sunspear would be the ideal place to stage an assault from. Once he had received the fleet, however, the Prince would unknowingly offer a succinct summary of his treachery to Eddard. Upon his informing of the king that, following scouting the island chain, Vorian believed the islands to be “not worth the time of such an important figure as a Baelish”, the mockingbird flew into a blind rage. He revoked the man’s position as Hand in a heated argument, demanding the return of the fleet to King’s Landing - and he would have it, in time, but in no thanks to Prince Vorian. Refusing to return his ill-gotten gains, the Hand’s War began when the Royal Fleet was fired upon during their approach to Sunspear, the attack led by sellsails aboard the vessel ironically named King Eddard’s Wisdom. With members of the infamously militant Vhassyl family of Lys now serving as his admirals, Vorian and Dorne would win their first engagement against the Crown’s forces - as well as the second, third, and fourth. Disappearance Revitalized by the assistance of the forces of the Arbor and Shields, as well as Lord Gyles’ own purging of the ranks of any he believed to have been installed as a result of his predecessor’s corruption, the Royal Fleet began to finally succeed, and the war took a drastic turn in the Crown’s favour. When the royal host under King Eddard sought to land at the docks of Sunspear, they were met by a cog flying the lemon-dotted sigil of House Dalt alongside the rainbow colors of parlay. Offered a complete surrender of Sunspear and House Martell would he spare Prince Vorian’s life, His Grace refused - and said as much in far more graphic detail, dispatching the lemon-knight that had met him to relay a message of threats of grotesque violence against the Lord of Sunspear upon their next meeting. The city would fall in an hour’s time, with Ser Andrey Dalt, Commander of the Threefold Gate, ordering the gates thrown open as the royal host approached from land and sea alike. What remnants remained loyal to Prince Vorian held out in the Sandship; in three days’ time, they too would surrender, their supplies of grain and barley having been exhausted by the series of extravagant feasts held by the former Hand to celebrate his victories over the Royal Fleet. When all was said and done and Sunspear had truly been beaten, King Eddard would still fail at his ultimate goal of slaying the man that had bankrupted his kingdom: Prince Vorian would never be seen again, and, though later Master of Whispers would report sightings of the man in various Free Cities, no amount of coin or assassins King Eddard sent would bring about his death. Category:House Martell Category:Small Council